https://www.ifj.org/who/rules-and-policy/global-charter-of-ethics-for-journalists

 

This is the International Federation of Journalists Code 

 

8 sets out respect for privacy 

 

15 specifies adherence to the code

 

There are many Professional regulatory bodies around the world and although there will be country specific points. However,  most professions have broadly similar good practice codes, for their respective professions. 

 

Doctors irrespective of where they obtained their Medical degree or where they practice will be bound by the first principle of their oath - 'First do no harm' 

As a professional it is abhorrent to think of other professionals breaking their respective professional code and the trust in their profession for their own gain.Sorry 

1 minute ago, Pancake said:

 

There's something bigger than media interests and money behind all this.

No doubt, you are correct, but what exactly and to what end would anyone gain satisfaction from actively seeking to destroy another person's life. The other party is behaving in a disgusting manner

That's why I feel so powerless. I want to help but I can't really help without having a clear picture of the situation, without knowing what's really happening and why.

2 hours ago, Sombreuil said:

Cultural minefield - we should all tread carefully 

Just a minefield all around, not only cultural. But we can certainly amplify Yuzu's own words without fear. 

2 hours ago, Perelandra said:

https://www.ifj.org/who/rules-and-policy/global-charter-of-ethics-for-journalists

 

This is the International Federation of Journalists Code 

 

8 sets out respect for privacy 

 

15 specifies adherence to the code

 

There are many Professional regulatory bodies around the world and although there will be country specific points. However,  most professions have broadly similar good practice codes, for their respective professions. 

 

Doctors irrespective of where they obtained their Medical degree or where they practice will be bound by the first principle of their oath - 'First do no harm' 

As a professional it is abhorrent to think of other professionals breaking their respective professional code and the trust in their profession for their own gain.Sorry 

That's the standard for proper, fully accredited journalists, true. But are freelance paparazzi bound to adhere to that code? Since they're the ones usually selling 'scoops' to the gossip rags

13 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

That's the standard for proper, fully accredited journalists, true. But are freelance paparazzi bound to adhere to that code? Since they're the ones usually selling 'scoops' to the gossip rags

I don't know how it works in Japan,but here the line is pretty blurred. There's a lot of talk about privacy but at the end of the day everybody can publish pretty  much what they want,they just use their fave word allegedly and they are fine

 

This post has been tagged by Yuzu_legend as [NEWS].

6 hours ago, CashmereKitty said:

I suppose this petition hasn’t been started by a member of this forum, but does anyone know what the goal is? I mean what will happen with the results, will it be submitted to Japanese authorities or some other kind of organization?

To goal at the moment is to spread awareness of this matter by providing concrete numbers. Hashtags and trends are good but numbers are better. This serves to further strengthen the stance we took. We have to walk the talk.

 

To bring it to relevant organization, this campaign has to be successful first. That is why it’s crucial for it be shared as much as possible. In my opinion, OP could bring it to the ministry that is in charge of news in Japan. If there’s a specific news association, it also can be submitted there.

 

Ultimately I signed the petition with the aim to spread awareness in mind. I know people are sceptical of petitions, they rarely do anything but this is a good first step if we want to do anything at all. It provides tangible proof of our stance. There are strength in numbers and we should use it to our advantage. 

21 hours ago, liv said:

Unfortunately, in this day and age it is impossible to remain private... especially if you say you want to be private. That's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Maybe in hindsight they should have released photos on their own terms, like some celebrities do, in order to lower demand for pap pictures and control the narrative... but, I'm not in Japan so I can't know if that approach would work there. Yes, i realize that is 180 degrees out of character for him...and, No, you should not have to do this... but this is his current reality... and his actual approach did not work. 

Please, please, please, dear Liv and everyone, refrain from suggesting that it was Yuzuru who did something wrong and should have done something differently. First of all, from everything I have been able to learn about how things work in Japan, his way of communicating and acting about the marriage was normal. Many other Japanese public figures did the same. Shizuka Arakawa has been married since 2013 and has children; both her marriage and the birth of her two children were announced to the public, but no picture has been published and the general public still doesn't know who her husband is. I have not heard of them facing the same aggressive intrusion into their private lives. I know it's hard to accept, but it really does seem that Yuzuru has been given "special treatment". It's not that his approach 'didn't work', it's that there are people who are really determined to harass him. 

 

But more importantly, even if Yuzuru's approach was unusual in Japan, it wouldn't legitimize stalking, defamation and other forms of harassment against him, his wife and their families. What happened to him is not only inhuman and unacceptable, it's against Japanese law, and he's not the one responsible for ensuring that Japanese law is respected by other people, especially the media.

 

I know that all of us here on PH have good intentions and wish him the best, and because we feel hopeless, we try to find an answer as to how such a terrible situation could be avoided in the future, but please, please be careful with the wording as such discussions can unintentionally slip into blaming the victim. I'm sure he'll reflect on what happened, but the effort to change the situation for the future shouldn't fall on him, or any other victim of media abuse.

On 11/18/2023 at 6:21 PM, yanjun said:

the feeling that you can't do anything to help really is the worst  but there actually is a lot that we can do, even without speaking the language!

at this point, if we have to converse in japanese with people, the technology in AI translators have become so advanced that they'll definitely get what we're trying to say

 

but i was thinking, seeing as we have such a strong twitter fanbase, we could try to trend a hashtag to spread awareness? i know it's helped a little bit in the past with similar situations. it might not sound like much but it's definitely a first step in getting other people/fandoms to sympathize and being able to carry out a bigger action. especially with other fandoms that have had to deal with their idols being stalked and harassed (e.g. army, stay, literally most of the kpop fandoms out there-- seeing as yuzu is an army as well, there will definitely be at least a few hundred thousand if not millions of army who will support him (and there are army here on planet hanyu, too!), and i've already found a few on a different and smaller platform that twitter already (as i'm not a twitter user) )

 

we could also start a petition of sorts online maybe (like change.org)? i'm not really sure how that works 😭 but maybe someone more experienced can help?

 

and about changing the law, it's definitely doable if we get enough people involved  after a lot of complaining from fans, south korea changed their sasaeng punishment in 2021 from just a small fine to more severe ways of punishing, and it's helped so many idols in the past few years  and i researched a bit, and apparently japan recently had an incident between and idol and a stalker which ended up really badly, causing a change in the law. so if we try, there's a possibility we could change a lot

 

the boycotts definitely help though-- if the tabloids don't get engagement from these types of posts, they'll stop trying and concentrate their efforts somewhere else given time

 

Thank you for sharing your opinion from a Korean entertainment perspective. I have some thoughts related to this topic.

 

Spoiler

Some ARMY/Kpop accounts on Twitter have picked up on Yuzuru's divorce story and are using it for their own agenda, for example, to caution against consuming content from (Korean) stalker fansites. They are giving their readers the wrong impression that it was fans stalking and intrusion that led to the couple's divorce.

 

I used to be in a Kpop fandom many years ago, and it was my understanding that stalking and harassment was mainly attributed to fans/sasaengs. So when people in K-ent fandoms see the words stalker, slander, etc. against an idol or celebrity, they assume it's about crazy fans.

 

But Yuzuru doesn't have any of these "fansites"--these are not really a thing in Japan vs. Korea entertainment. He never mentioned fans being an issue, only media outlets.

 

So right now, there are fanyus trying to correct this misinformation on Twitter, but it's a bit of a difficult fight...

Regarding boycotts, I think most fanyus generally know (or learn) not to engage with tabloids online unless truly necessary for some reason. But Yuzuru is a household name in Japan, and tabloids will appeal to the general public. He also sadly has many antis who would be more than happy to spread any negative rumours.

 

Since the marriage announcement, there have been media and tabloids trying to find the identity of Yuzuru's wife or sprout some BS about her or the relationship. Often, the "news" articles would come out around important dates (e.g. RE_PRAY ticket lottery notification dates), like clockwork. Which has led some fans to believe that this was a targeted campaign against Yuzuru, with money involved.

5 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

That's the standard for proper, fully accredited journalists, true. But are freelance paparazzi bound to adhere to that code? Since they're the ones usually selling 'scoops' to the gossip rags

Certainly, you have a good point.

However, each and every person claiming to be part of any profession is expected to adhere to that profession's code of conduct.

It should be pointed out every time they break one of the principles, it makes any case against them stronger to reference which principle of the code that they have disregarded or broken. This could then be brought to the attention of the respective national federation of Journalists. Each federation will have a complaints process and a duty to investigate. Those who have broken the code could be prevented from working in the press sector and then any further activity would render them stalkers if they can no longer claim to be under the press umbrella. This could make them vulnerable to prosecution under public nuisance and anti stalking laws

 

For example some of the media outlets failed to mention that media has been cited as the culprits involved in the excessive intrusion into the privacy of Yuzu and his spouse and some have even worded the articles in a misleading way which to some readers makes them think it was fans stalking various members of Yuzu's family 

This would be against principle 3 - factual reporting, not falsifying nor suppressing information and reproducing statements faithfully ( summarising )

Referencing each activity with the various principles is useful when building a case. 

Sorry this is a s dull as dishwater but could be important later. There are so many fans, if this sort of thing was publicised every time media broke their own codes/ standards of practice then media will be aware that fans are demonstrating knowledge about what the journalists have been up to and are aware that codes of good practice are not being followed. Sounds a bit more weighty than they did this or caused that. Their activity infringed right to privacy and goes against this principle of good practice. This report omitted important facts and goes against that principle of practice. Publicise the poor practice citing their own practice standards, it will help if people decide to lodge a complaint with the professional governing body.

This may be completely ineffectual but people tend to be a little more circumspect about their actions and behaviour when faced with the prospect of being audited/ investigated by their professional body and possibly stripped of their professional membership because this will affect their employment. Maybe they don't care, but really no person is untouchable. 

37 minutes ago, SomewhereYuzu said:

 

Thank you for sharing your opinion from a Korean entertainment perspective. I have some thoughts related to this topic.

 

tysm lol... i'm glad that stanning kpop since i was 9 years old helps us in situations like this

6 hours ago, nekodearu said:

It's not that his approach 'didn't work', it's that there are people who are really determined to harass him. 

 

But more importantly, even if Yuzuru's approach was unusual in Japan, it wouldn't legitimize stalking, defamation and other forms of harassment against him, his wife and their families. What happened to him is not only inhuman and unacceptable, it's against Japanese law,

That makes this situation all the more frustrating. Logically, it should be a matter for the police to deal with, no? No need for the announcement & the rest of it. It just makes me wonder even more what the heck happened that Yuzu has to go to such an extreme.

Let's show support for Yuzu!

This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

"I want you to be happy, my precious person." (Google Translate)

 

Miya-kun doesn't mention Yuzu but I believe this message is for Yuzu.